Intellectuals Tear Down Civilization? Umm...Yes

From Thomas Sowell comes this, something that many of us have known for a long time:

The more I study the history of intellectuals, the more they seem like a wrecking crew, dismantling civilization bit by bit -- replacing what works with what sounds good.

Yes, it's about feelings, not facts. They can't be bothered with the facts, can't be bothered by the examples of history that show their vaunted ideas of how things should be don't work. They'll try again and again, making the claim that this time they'll get it right because they're more intelligent/thoughtful/moral/ethical/better (pick one) than the last bunch of intellectuals who tried it. But they're wrong, as history has shown. They're no different.

Remember, it is the intellectuals in Europe who twice tore that continent apart in one century, each time turning it into an abattoir. Some of that same thinking was imported into Asia with the same result.

When are we going to get it into our heads that intellectuals are fine...as long as they aren't running things? When are we going to make them run their 'ideals' through the stink test? (If it smells like a full diaper then we don't want to do it. Call it a way to head off the Law of Unintended Consequences.)

Even the intellectuals who helped found this nation made mistakes, some that cost us dearly "four score and seven years" later. But at least the non-intellectuals were able to correct some of their errors (while making a few of their own).

Another intellectual view we must demolish is that we can make the world a place without danger. As is usual, some of the efforts they have made to make things safer have had just the opposite effect. (Again, the Law of Unintended Consequences bites them in the ass.) It is another version of doing something that makes them feel better, makes them feel they've accomplished something, even if it's the wrong something. (I feel I have to characterize this need with a more descriptive term. Let's call it the Do Something Syndrome.)

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Methuselah's Daughter

From Thomas Sowell comes this, something that many of us have known for a long time:

The more I study the history of intellectuals, the more they seem like a wrecking crew, dismantling civilization bit by bit -- replacing what works with what sounds good.

Yes, it's about feelings, not facts. They can't be bothered with the facts, can't be bothered by the examples of history that show their vaunted ideas of how things should be don't work. They'll try again and again, making the claim that this time they'll get it right because they're more intelligent/thoughtful/moral/ethical/better (pick one) than the last bunch of intellectuals who tried it. But they're wrong, as history has shown. They're no different.

Remember, it is the intellectuals in Europe who twice tore that continent apart in one century, each time turning it into an abattoir. Some of that same thinking was imported into Asia with the same result.

When are we going to get it into our heads that intellectuals are fine...as long as they aren't running things? When are we going to make them run their 'ideals' through the stink test? (If it smells like a full diaper then we don't want to do it. Call it a way to head off the Law of Unintended Consequences.)

Even the intellectuals who helped found this nation made mistakes, some that cost us dearly "four score and seven years" later. But at least the non-intellectuals were able to correct some of their errors (while making a few of their own).

Another intellectual view we must demolish is that we can make the world a place without danger. As is usual, some of the efforts they have made to make things safer have had just the opposite effect. (Again, the Law of Unintended Consequences bites them in the ass.) It is another version of doing something that makes them feel better, makes them feel they've accomplished something, even if it's the wrong something. (I feel I have to characterize this need with a more descriptive term. Let's call it the Do Something Syndrome.)

Methuselah's Daughter is only 99 cents in Kindle, iBook and Nook
formats. This was a team effort between John Eddy and Dean Esmay and is based on the2002-2003 blog Methuselah's Daughter, the self-related story of a 3500-year-old woman living in
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